Growing Up
by Cruise Night
Summary: It's not just Riley who's growing up: her emotions are, too.
1. The Friendship Bracelet

" _Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."_ – _Mark Twain_

* * *

 **Growing Up**

Chapter 1: The Friendship Bracelet

* * *

Watching Riley grow up was a multi-colored revolution: there were blasts of sun-bright euphoria, moments of dark, dismal heartbreak, nail-biting anxiousness, advancements that championed her person, and regressions that humbled her. Throughout this kaleidoscope of emotions, each course of action was carefully weighed to see what was in her best interest: Riley was the center of the universe. In Headquarters, there were constant, lively debates between her emotions, which consisted of rattling off all positive and negative outcomes, no matter how likely or far-fetched they may be.

"Do you _really_ think we need the umbrella today?" Disgust questioned, quirking an eyebrow as she stared at screen, which showed Riley was looking at the bin near the front door, which held her umbrella.

"Of course we do! What if it rains?!" Fear's gaze settled on each of the other four emotions in turn, panic etched on his face, "You all heard the weatherman last night! He said there's a twenty percent chance of showers, which means there's a twenty percent chance that we'll be rained on walking to the bus stop!"

"That weatherman doesn't know what he's talking about. When was the last time _he_ was right?" Anger huffed, rolling his eyes and looking away from Fear, back to the screen.

"He was right about those strong storms we had in the spring! Remember how scary it was when the power went out?" Fear shuddered as he recalled the memory. Riley had been working on her homework past dark and had a difficult time finding the doorknob when the lights when out.

" _Ew_ , yeah, that's when we found out how much dust was actually in our room. Remember tripping over our hockey stick and falling? Our pants were _covered_ with dust," Disgust said, sticking her tongue out slightly, face scrunching up, "Dust is _so_ gross."

"Guys, guys! Come on, twenty percent is WAY less than half. We'll probably be inside if it rains, anyway, so we won't need the umbrella. Besides, even if it does rain when we're outside, it's not a big deal! Rain's neat!" Joy said, a wide grin on her face as she bounced on her heels, "We don't need the umbrella! Take a chance!" She exclaimed as she pushed up a lever on the console, which glowed yellow and caused Riley to smile and turn away from the umbrella bucket. A yellow memory orb rolled down the chute, coming to a stop on the wall which housed a few other yellow orbs.

"I'm headed to school, now, Mom!" Riley called over her shoulder as she grabbed hold of the doorknob.

Her mother looked out from the kitchen, a jar of baby food in hand ("Ew, carrots and _broccoli_ ," Disgust sneered and stuck out her tongue, "What is _wrong_ with Max? He should _know_ broccoli is poisonous!"). "Have a nice day, monkey!" Riley's mother called before airplaning the food to Max who giggled happily in his highchair and clapped his hands.

Riley smiled a little and rolled her eyes before heading out the front door. Another yellow orb aligned on the wall and Family Island glowed.

As Riley closed the door behind her and started down the street, Fear pointed up towards the top of the screen and shivered, "Look! Do you see that?"

Sadness seemed to brighten up for just a moment, "Oh, those grey clouds look so gloomy. Maybe it _will_ rain."

Joy waved her hand in dismissal, "Nah! Those are nowhere near dark enough for. . ."

They all watched as a single water droplet fell directly in the center of the screen. Riley flinched, squeezed her eyes shut, and blinked hard as she quickly reached up to rub the raindrop out of her eye. She then turned her gaze up at the sky as more droplets began to fall, "Oh no," she said quietly as Fear pounded on a button at the center of console, which caused a purple orb to slide down the chute onto the wall.

Joy quickly pulled him back, "Woah, hold on there," she started, pushing a lever on the console, "It's just a little rain. Look!" she pointed to the screen as Riley took off her backpack and held it over her head like a makeshift umbrella. She quickly took off sprinting down the street towards the bus stop. When she arrived, she stood under the overhang and panted slightly, "We barely even got wet! Yes!" Joy cheered and twirled around, watching another yellow orb find its spot on the wall, which caused Fear to sigh in relief.

Disgust scrunched up her nose as she quickly reached over to pull a different lever, "It better not have messed up our hair," she said, watching the screen. Riley reached up to flatten the top of her hair as she looked at her reflection in the metal panel of the bus stop.

Anger rolled his eyes, "Oh, that would be a tragedy," he said sarcastically.

Disgust glared over at him and flipped her hair over her shoulder, "It would be: frizzy hair is _so_ not cool." Once a green orb stopped in its place on the wall and Riley was satisfied that her hair wasn't too messy, she slung her backpack over her shoulder and waited for the school bus.

Five years had passed since Riley and her family moved to San Francisco and she was now comfortable enough to call it home. She made friends, joined the local hockey team, and even had a part-time job at an ice-cream shop. Being in her Junior year of high school, she had just started looking into possible colleges, including Minnesota State University, which she was excited about, because it would bring her back to the state she grew up in.

"Let's see that one again!" Joy exclaimed, plucking an orb from the core memories and projecting it onto the screen. The memory showed Riley and her parents touring the University: Riley was all smiles and excitement during the campus tour, while her parents looked on proudly, "Oh, I can't wait to live in the dorms and earn our degree!"

Fear wrung his hands together, withholding himself from pressing the button on the console, "But what if we don't make friends? What is the University doesn't accept us?!"

Anger huffed and sat down in one of the chairs, "They better accept us. Riley has good grades and would be great on their hockey team."

Disgust smiled a little, "Not to mention that we look great in maroon and gold!"

Sadness sighed, "But what about Mom and Dad? We'd be so far away from everybody; there'd be no one to help out with Max."

Joy took the memory down to stop the projection and returned it to the core memory container, "Yeah, but guys, you know Mom and Dad said that we need to follow our dreams, wherever they may take us! Max will be fine! We can call Mom and Dad on the phone and video chat with them every day!"

As Riley boarded the school bus, Joy took control, greeting their friends and finding their seat. Disgust shrugged her shoulders slightly, her thoughts still on college, as she walked away from the console. She went over to the windows at the back of the room and stared out at the Islands of Personality, which included the newly-founded "College Island." Disgust still wasn't sure what to make of the idea of going away to college: leaving their family and friends and focusing all their energy on studying for the next four years. Yes, she knew it would open many doors in Riley's future, but it was a little unnerving not knowing which doors would be opened. It was a huge step that she thought Joy and the other emotions were taking much too lightly. She sighed and rested her head on the cool glass, closing her eyes for just a moment.

Life moved so fast; their little girl had grown into a woman in the blink of an eye, and here they were: going on like nothing had changed, when it had. They had survived their first boyfriend, first breakup, first time driving a car, and first paycheck. Life was moving way, _way_ too fast and in no way seemed to be slowing down. And what bothered Disgust the most was that they were all growing up, too, even though sometimes the others acted like it was just Riley that was growing up. Over the past few years, Disgust felt like something was changing within herself: she was unsure what it was, but it was something that caused her to take the lead at the console less frequently.

"Hey, Disgust!" Joy called, which caused the green emotion to snap out of her trance and look back at the others who were still standing at the console staring at her, eyebrows raised, "We need you for this one."

Disgust looked up at the screen to see Riley's best friend, Mackenzie, holding up a few different colored bracelets, "I made you one! Which one do you want?" The red-haired girl asked Riley as she held out three braided bracelets: one was maroon and gold, the second was lime green and yellow, and the third was blue and dark grey.

Disgust stared at the screen, the other emotions watching her anxiously and whispering about which bracelet was the prettiest and would look best on Riley. Disgust pursed her lips slightly, thinking about each one, college, the future, and growing up, before hesitantly reaching out and tapping two fingers against the center console button. "Thanks, Kenz. This one's nice," Riley said, her hand passing over the bracelet sporting her dream University's colors to the blue and grey one.

All the emotions turned their eyes from the screen to Disgust, who was intently staring up at the image of Riley tying the bracelet onto her wrist.

" _What_ _the heck_ was that?!" Anger yelled, steam rising out of his head as he pounded his fist on the console.

"Ooh, that one's pretty. It reminds me of rain and tears," Sadness said, unfazed by Anger's outburst as she reached out and lightly placed her hand on Disgust's arm. Disgust didn't say anything; she just pursed her lips and walked away from the console and out of the room.

Joy looked between the others, confused, "Huh, I figured she's at least choose the green one," she said before shrugging her shoulders, "No matter! It's so nice that Mackenzie made us a friendship bracelet!" She cheered, pressing a lever forward, which caused Riley to give her friend a hug.

While Joy and the other emotions were distracted by the show of friendship, which caused Friendship Island to glow brightly, Fear watched as a green and blue orb slid down the chute, quickly followed by a yellow one, and lined up on the wall, looking thoroughly out of place.


	2. Pop Quiz

" _Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."_ – _Mark Twain_

* * *

 **Growing Up**

Chapter 2: Pop Quiz

* * *

The bracelet incident was quickly pushed from Riley's emotions' minds as the school day began and Riley headed to first period, which was her least favorite subject: math.

Joy pressed a button on the console as Riley greeted her classmates and took her seat in the second row. While the class waited for their teacher, Ms. Jones, to arrive, Riley spent her time doodling small animals on the inside cover of her notebook. When the teacher walked into the classroom, Riley's emotions sat up straight in attention (as did the entire class). Ms. Jones put her bag down on her desk, before walking up to the whiteboard at the front of the class and writing in big, red, capital letters: POP QUIZ.

The emotions groaned. Joy attempted to bring a little light to the unfortunate turn of events, "Oh, come on, everyone, this could be fun! Let's test our skills and show Ms. Jones we completed our homework!" Just before Joy's hand landed on the console, Disgust raced back into the room, having heard the collected groan, and slammed her hands down onto the button, which caused Riley to groan along with the rest of her classmates.

Disgust glared up at Joy, "Do you _want_ Riley to look like the teacher's pet?" She asked harshly, to which Joy just sighed and tried to direct attention away from the argument Disgust was initiating.

"Wow! Look at Pete's hair!" Joy exclaimed and pointed at the screen.

At Joy's lack of reply to her question, Disgust rolled her eyes, brushed off her hands, and stepped back from the console, content with her decision.

Sadness looked over to the boy sitting diagonally in front of Riley, who had an unfortunate-looking haircut. "Oh, no, I sure hope the scissors didn't get hurt doing that," she said, which caused Anger to snort.

"Who cares?" he growled, glaring up at the screen, "How does teach here think that it's okay to just _throw_ a pop quiz on us, after she kept us up _half the night_ completing that assignment?"

Disgust glanced over to Anger and nodded her head, "Really, does she think we didn't complete it or something?"

This just egged Anger on, his head starting to steam, "I _hate_ stupid pop quizzes and teachers who have no confidence in your ability to complete a little bit of homework!" he yelled, slamming his fists down on the console, but not pressing any buttons.

Joy quickly jumped in, pressing the button a couple of times and laughing nervously, "Oh, come on: it's not that bad. We did the assignment, so we'll ace this test! Yay for another 'A' in the grade book!"

Anger grumbled under his breath and Disgust crossed her arms, looking away. Sadness frowned a little and tried to keep tears from falling, "But, what if we fail? That assignment was _really_ hard," she said quietly.

At this, Fear twitched and bit his lip, "If we fail, that could be the end of our 'A' average. Then Minnesota State REALLY won't accept us!"

Small frowns settled on the emotions' faces and they fell silent.

After a moment, Joy reached out to press the button again, aiming to reassure Riley and the other emotions that there was no way they were going to fail this quiz, but Disgust beat her to it, reaching out and pulling a lever, which caused Riley to slump in her chair and stare down at the test that her teacher placed on her desk. "This is the worst," Riley mumbled quietly, picking up her pencil and writing her name on the top line, before pulling out her graphing calculator and starting to work on the first problem.

Joy sighed a little, leaning back on her heels, "There's no way we're gonna fail this test, guys," she said, eyes fixated on the screen as she tried to work through the problem with Riley, "We're going to make it to MSU, I just know it." Despite her reassurance, Joy's tone fell flat, lacking its typical pep. Sadness didn't seem to notice, taking her spot beside Joy and nodding in agreement.

As Riley worked her way through the quiz, she found that many of the questions were rehashed from the previous night's homework, just with differing variables, which boosted her confidence in her ability. By the last question, she was sure she had at least passed the test, which led to a small celebration being thrown in Headquarters. Joy danced around, cheering as she threw confetti in the air, "Yay, we did it!" She shouted, spinning Sadness, who even looked happy at the outcome, in a small circle.

Anger sat down on the couch, sighing in relief as he flipped open his newspaper, the front-page headline reading "Pop Quiz Update: Possible Success!" Fear let out a breath he had been holding throughout the entire quiz, and slumped down on the couch, mumbling about how stressful it was.

Disgust pursed her lips as she stared at the screen, which showed Riley passing in her completed quiz. The green emotion withheld herself from pressing the button by turning on heel and walking over to the windows at the back of the room, which looked out over the Islands of Personality. College Island was glowing brightly; she stuck her tongue out at it.

Joy hopped over to Disgust, still in full celebration mode, and snapped a party hat on the green emotes head, before grabbing her hands and spinning her around in a circle. Disgust looked thoroughly unimpressed as she yanked her hands away, which left Joy with a confused look on her face, "Aren't you proud of Riley, Disgust?" she asked, her typical smile replaced with a small, concerned frown.

Disgust averted her eyes from Joy, suddenly feeling a sense of guilt wash over her. Of course she should be proud of Riley's success; after all, Riley was their girl and they were committed to doing what was best for her: she should be patting herself on the back right now! But, instead, here she was, wishing that something else had happened: maybe Fear taking the controls and leaving Riley like a deer in headlights, unable to make heads and tails of the equations in front of her? Or maybe she should have riled up Anger even more, when the test was handed out, to get him to blow his lid and have Riley leave class or toss her quiz to the ground? That would be a good way to flunk.

Disgust felt sick to her stomach at the realization that her thoughts were focused on ways that she could have made Riley fail. She held back a gag and turned away from Joy. "Leave me alone," she said lowly, which caused Joy to look even more confused.

"But, Disgust. . . . What's wrong?" Joy questioned, dumbfounded as she stared at the back of the shorter emotion's head.

Anger glanced up from over his paper, having caught onto the conversation and deciding eavesdropping was more interesting than the article he was reading.

When Joy didn't listen to her request, Disgust could feel her blood rushing into her face as she squeezed her hands into fists, "Joy," she began slowly, still not facing the yellow emote as she repeated herself, "leave me alone."

Fear twitched where he was sitting on the couch and quickly jumped up, racing over to scan the shelf holding the Mind Manuals, which Sadness was pretending to be engrossed in.

"Disgust, I just. . ." Joy trailed off as she reached out to place a hand on the other girl's shoulder. Disgust whipped around, eyes narrowed and face flushed.

"What the heck is your problem!? When someone asks you to leave them alone, it means they don't want to talk to you or. . .or your _stupid face_!" she sputtered, stomping her foot with emphasis.

At this, Joy's eyes widened and her mouth hung open slightly. The realization of what just happened, of how much she had just blown up on her fellow emote for no reason, swept over Disgust. Her face fell and she paled a little, fists unclenching, "Wait, Joy, that's not what I. . .I mean, I didn't. . . ." Disgust fumbled, shocked that she had lost her composure and unsure of what even caused it.

Joy held up her hands in defeat, taking a step back, "I didn't mean to. . ." she started and faded off, shaking her head, confusion etched on her face as she turned and walked away.

When Disgust saw Joy turn her back on her, she felt sick to her stomach. She held back a gag as she raced out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Anger raised an eyebrow, still sitting on the couch and looking over his copy of the Mind Reader. The headline had changed to "Conflicting Emotions?," which he quickly flipped to look at, before looking up at Joy, who still looked dumbfounded, "What did you do?" he asked her.

Joy shook her head, blinking her eyes a few times, trying to sort out what had just happened, "I have no idea. That was. . .I don't even know," she said, looking up at the screen where she could see Riley and Mackenzie comparing their friendship bracelets: Riley's blue and grey contrasted sharply with Mackenzie's green and silver. Joy stared at the bracelets, the gravity of it all settling in her gut, "Guys, I think we need to talk," she said. This caused Sadness and Fear to look up from the Mind Manuals they was reading, "I think something's wrong."


End file.
